Compassion Slave
The production of the self-destruct switches isn’t keeping up.
Inside the office, Yuria came to report to me.
"Self-destruct switch?"
"Yeah. Check it on DORECA."
Pull out the Doreca, open the menu, check the creation list.
Yuria immediately found the one she called the 'self-destruct switch.'
A video flows beside it.
A box with a switch and a skull mark on it.
Ah, that thing Nina developed, huh.
In the video, a switch was flipped—and the massive building vanished in an instant.
Self-destruct, I guess. Or… how do you even say it?
But I get it now.
"Production's just not keeping up."
Yuria nods.
How much is missing?
"Just this much"
She wrote on the chalkboard with chalk.
--------------------------
Clothing ■■■□□
Eating ■■■■□
Residence ■■□□□
Boom ■■■■■■■■■■
--------------------------
Too clear—wasn’t clear enough!
Ten levels of demand—breaking through the five-level ceiling.
"Guess we're seriously short."
"One per household, so."
"...Yeah, sure."
Calling it a self-destruct switch is a bit of a misnomer, but yeah—exactly that.
Since it's treated like a fire extinguisher, ideally I'd want one installed in every building I've ever made.
Need, of course, goes straight up like eels climbing a wall.
"So, required materials... huh, what the hell is this?"
Shocked. Then just plain worn out.
The materials the self-destruct switch demanded? Pretty brutal.
Scorpion tail ×1
Eluka’s hair ×—
Lava’s soul ×1
"An all-star lineup or what?"
Out of everything I’ve used before, these were some of the rarer ones.
Hard to gather. Low stock.
"Ah. So this is why production can’t keep up."
I get it now.
With DORECA and slave cards, production should never fall behind.
Cast magic circles using mana, shove in the required materials, and it’s done instantly.
Mana’s infinite.
Stroke a slave, and mana wells up like a spring.
The only bottleneck’s the lack of materials.
“Alright, then, let’s go hunting.”
I reached for my sword.
If materials are short, just hunt them down.
That’s what we’ve always done. That’s what we’ll keep doing.
“Then it’s fine.”
“Huh? Fine how?”
“Lava’s been taken care of by the elite guard.”
“Mia and the others?”
“Scorpions are abundant in Kazan. We’re getting them right now.”
“Huh. They’ve been hunting regularly. No surprise—those bastards are a warrior race.”
“Eluka said Regret and the others asked if we’d buy them.”
“Foreign currency motive, huh.”
I nodded.
Wait… that means…
“Is there nothing left for me to do?”
A little deflated.
Maybe that’s just how it is.
The country’s running smoothly. I don’t need to do anything, not even move a finger.
We’ve reached that stage, huh.
Feels good. Kinda sad, too.
“Things still for you to do, Master.”
“Huh? What?”
After all that talk… was there really room for me to do anything?
☆
I was up on the top floor of my homemade beach, the building that doubled as a hotel.
Staring out the window. The sea looked the same as when I’d been here before.
No—actually, it felt more tropical now. Like it had turned into an even better vacation spot.
“Master!”
“Onii-chan!”
The door swung open. Mira and Rirya came in.
The two slaves approached, eyes bright, clearly hoping for praise.
“We made Ilya’s Spring.”
“Just like you said. We added all sorts of camouflage so it wouldn’t ruin the scenery.”
"Is that so? Well done."
I praised the two of them, ruffling their hair.
—Charged eight thousand units of magic.
— Charged ten thousand units of magic.
My job was to pamper the two of them right here.
"The building’s self-destruct switch? Not enough magic power."
Because Yuria said so.
That's true, all right.
Creating a self-destruct switch that could reach every building they’d ever made would take about as much magic as they’d used up until now.
Boosting magic power was an incredibly important job—something only I could do.
And so the role of being doted on fell to Mira and Rirya.
"Because it's my turn."
That was the reason Yuria had said.
Risha was already here. In terms of order, these two made the most sense.
Second Slave Mira.
Fourth Slave Rirya.
That was so typically Yuria to just sweep me aside.
Her magic charges are unpredictable. Either she doesn’t charge at all—maybe because her emotions don’t flare much—or she suddenly floods with power all at once.
In short, it's gambling.
Seems like she’s got a handle on that trait herself.
She needed magic power now—anyway, just to pull herself free.
Yuria—god, I love her so much. That stubborn little spark of hers, the way she holds on like she’s got something to prove… it kills me.
“What’s wrong, my lord?”
"Feeling unwell somewhere?"
I fell silent, lost in thought about Yuria, and the two of them leaned in, peering at my face with curious expressions.
"Mira, Rirya"
Yeah?
What is it?
"Going to enjoy a little vacation here for a bit, but I’ll give one order before we start."
"Yes."
The two of them nod in unison, voices blending.
I told those two.
Think of something Yuria’ll be happy to see when you get back.
They were startled—then, slowly, it turned into joy.
"Bring back something nice. Or tell her a nice story. Anything, just something Yuria’ll be happy to see. Think about that."
"―Yes!"
"Understood!"
— Magic power charged: 20,000.
— Magic power charged: 30,000.
"Master’s amazing, worrying about slaves who aren’t even here."
"Truly, the world’s greatest master."
Those two slaves chatting like that—me, I was the one who was truly impressed.
The amount of magic they charged.
Both of them, more excited by Yuria’s joy than their own.
That was sweet. Adorable.
"You two are really cute, you know that?"
— Magic power charged: 5,000.
— Magic power charged: 5,000.
Seriously. Adorable slaves.